Both of these books are on my desk right now.

The sad thing is that of all the thousands of stock art images in the world, there appears to be only one with a woman of color graduating with a young child in her arms. Not surprising, really, just sad.

Gamer friends: I intend to go to Origins this year. I had a lot of fun last year and I intend to do so again this year.

Last year I combined it with a trip to see friends in Ann Arbor and family in Dayton; I might do something similar this year, or not. At least, not if I can convince the friends in Ann Arbor to go to Origins instead. :)

When connected to the router by a cable, my new computer (which is delightful, btw) gets 20 Mbps. My laptop, via wireless, gets the same. But my desktop, via wireless, gets like 5-6, and sees less signal strength than the laptop despite being the same distance from the router.

Any thoughts on a software/settings solution? Could it be some sort of issue with Windows 7? Or is it just that Dell put an unbelievably shitty wireless card in my computer? A firmware update to the router made no difference.

I can, of course, call Dell's tech support number, but it'll take 30 minutes to make them understand that yes, everything is working, yes, I've power cycled everything, and no, the wireless connection is still less than half as fast as the one on my (also a Dell) laptop sitting next to it.

So I went to Target today and a couple of the conversations I overheard reminded me that I am not quite 'average' in terms of my cooking behavior, especially for someone of my age and marital status.

The first was between two girls, obviously planning a gathering. They were listing the items they had obtained: "cheese and crackers, chips and salsa..." and then discussing what remained to be purchased, and how that was practically a full meal right there.

The second was the male half of an (apparent) couple, who appeared to be shopping for items on a list to make a particular dish. "Garlic salt," he said confidently, as though this was a key ingredient in his family's secret pasta recipe.

Tim was commenting the other day that I cook far more than most people he knows. And I do - on average, I probably buy 1-2 meals out a week and bring my lunch to work most days. Of the meals I prepare at home, most involve actual produce and/or other raw ingredients. I 'cook' a frozen pizza (with added spices/seasoning) or a box of mac and cheese (often with frozen veggies) not infrequently, but moments like those at Target today reminded me that I am, in this way, perhaps odd - what with in my habitual cooking of raw ingredients and my understanding that garlic and salt can be purchased and utilized separately, to say nothing of having both in the house already.

I should move this from a "god, I'm awesome" to a "things I'm grateful for" direction. I am indebted to friends and significant others - and occasional, random calls to my mother - for helping me reach this point. Obviously yrmencyn gets a shout-out here in particular, but really, many people are responsible for my being a competent cook. Thanks!

I've read a lot of delightful pulp lately - Charlaine Harris, Kelley Armstrong, and Jim Butcher are my urban fantasy trifecta. Lately I haven't been as much into 'pure' scifi and fantasy, though if something is good... Kim Harrison I thought was terrible, FYI. I read one of Cassandra Clare's and didn't get into it. LK Hamilton I read some of and then lost interest after a few books.

Am I missing any urban fantasy authors actually worth reading? My friend Elizabeth has lent me many books lately - Sharon Shinn in the fantasy/romance area, for instance - but I'm wondering if anyone knows of something good not included in the list above.

Fritolaysia Cuts Off Chiplomatic Relations With Snakistan

It's an old article - 2005 - but I haven't derived that much punjoyment of an Onion article since 99's Pudding Factor Disaster Brings Slow, Creamy Death to Town Below

So I have this problem when I'm arguing with people where I lose my temper and say things less skillfully than I otherwise might. (Some of you may remember, "Please, 3,000 people. We HAVE 300 million more.")

Exchange I just had on FB about the impending addition of gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability as protected categories under federal hate crimes law:

Brian, ignorant friend of a friend:

Perhaps because laws against harming the innocent are already in place. The legislation passed by Congress implicitly acknowledges one of two things: 1) It was legal before today to assault gays; 2) It is worse to assault gays than heterosexuals. The most cogent and consistent advocate for gay rights in America, Andrew Sullivan, opposes hate-crime legislation for this very sound reason.

Me:

Brian - these laws relate to membership or perceived membership in categories including heterosexuality, just as non-discrimination laws do. If I pretend friendship with a straight man, rob him, pistol whip him, and leave him on a fence to die of exposure, well, obviously there's still a question whether it was a hate crime (was I in it for the money or because he was a fucking breeder who disgusted me too much to allow him to live?), but this law applies just as much to that situation as to Matthew Shepherd's.

To your first point: this law is not just about murder. Most hate crimes are not murders. Part of the point is to further criminalize actions that terrorize a whole community (e.g., burning a piece of wood in a black person's yard is just arson, unless it's a cross; spraypainting a wall is just vandalism, unless I write "I'm going to kill every kike I see tomorrow" in a Jewish neighborhood) and, furthermore, to ensure that there is federal recourse if local authorities fail to adequately pursue the perpetrators of a crime.

I feel I made my point, but I perhaps could have done so in a less inflammatory way. Oops.

I'm not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, I had no desire to pay airfare and spend the time going to my high school reunion. At this point I am no longer what I could call incredibly close to any of my high school friends; those that I've kept in touch with at all (ie, have spoken/chatted with in the last 5 years) are probably limited in number to a half dozen, tops.

On the other, I want to see pictures of everyone looking aged and/or fat, for spiteful and/or self-centered reasons. I am also curious about who was gay, though of course those people may be less likely to attend high school reunions. I may be a case in point - it's not as though high school was hell for me, but the base level of anxiety and exclusion that suffused my time in high school probably didn't make me any more likely to think, "I can't wait to go back and see people!"

Nonetheless, your 10 year high school reunion only happens once and I sort of regret missing it.

Obviously one could only get away with it if one's entirely life (or at least an entire room) were fashioned in this way, but I COVET COVET COVET this desktop:

( Steampunk desktop )

I decided after seeing previews for and reading reviews for 9 that I should better understand steampunk and decided to start at wikipedia. That image is featured in the article and oh my god I kind of want it hardcore.

U.S. Colleges Are Failing in Getting Students to Graduate

I love the study the NYT is reviewing (at least, based on the description, as I haven't read it). Graduation rates ARE too low, and helping students persist and graduate despite financial and other challenges SHOULD be a priority. But parts of the article make me twitchy:

About half of low-income students with a high school grade-point average of at least 3.5 and an SAT score of at least 1,200 do not attend the best college they could have. Many don’t even apply. Some apply but don’t enroll.

They could have been admitted to Michigan’s Ann Arbor campus (graduation rate: 88 percent, according to College Results Online) or Michigan State (74 percent), but they went, say, to Eastern Michigan (39 percent) or Western Michigan (54 percent). If they graduate, it would be hard to get upset about their choice. But large numbers do not.

As though going to a school where a higher percentage of students graduate in itself makes you more likely to graduate. To the extent that graduation rates are the result of supportive student services, yes, but of course that's not the driving factor. The reason the University of Michigan has high completion rates is because students attending the University of Michigan are, without looking at any statistics to back up this statement, almost undoubtedly whiter, richer, from better high schools, from families with more educated backgrounds, less likely to be parents, and less likely to be working through school than are their counterparts at Eastern Michigan University.

The students that don't match this description who go to the University of Michigan to get the best education they can are more likely to be part of the 12% who don't finish. Moving students from disadvantaged backgrounds to better schools may increase their odds of finishing - though it's also likely to reduce overall graduation rates for those schools - but I think there are reasons to expect some students to be more likely to succeed at institutions where their classmates are more like them and where student services are designed with nontraditional or struggling students in mind.

And in conclusion, I hate it the inability of media to report research findings in a way that doesn't impart causality to correlational research findings. But I should be used to it by now.

I'd never read or seen The Taming of the Shrew. Oh, I saw 10 Things I Hate About You once, and it was cute enough. Heath Ledger as a bad boy = just as hot as when he's a cowboy, after all. Anyway, I saw it performed last night at The Shakespeare Theatre Company's "Free for All" event.

I kept waiting for the other (progressive and/or feminist) shoe to drop, but no, really, the play seems to be about how abusing your shrewish wife will make her love you. Maybe I missed subtext or something? But hey, all I had to do was stand in line for an hour for free tickets, so there's that. And overall it was a funny play and amusing as performed, though the very modern styling and "OMG Bianca is SO HAWT" interludes were more than a little disconcerting to me (though the outfit made of translucent bubbles = fabulous). But I still find myself a little stunned by the plot. I'm not one of those people incapable of appreciating something in its historical context, but I do find it a bit shocking in a contemporary performance.

Also, just a little bit of corporate sponsorship. It was very New Burbage, only with Target instead of Cosmopolitan-Lenstrex. Until the curtain came down for the start of the show, I fully expected the Target symbol to be projected onto it with laser lighting at any moment.

BP discovers 'huge' oil field in Gulf of Mexico

Does anyone know how mineral resources in international waters are dealt with legally? Like, does BP have to pay someone (who?) for this privilege? Hmmm.

How Serfdom Saved the Women's Movement (by Caitlin Flanagan)

The article's from 2004, but I just read it for the first time. Boiled down, it amounts to: the only reason women were able to enter the professional workforce in large numbers while still having children is because of the ready availability of poorly-paid domestic workers, often immigrants. There aren't any easy solutions suggested, and much of the article consists of sarcastic attacks (my favorite kind) on authors who've written about the so-called struggle of the professional mother. For example:

For someone in Ann Crittenden's position, seeing a string of zeros on her Social Security statement can be a "dramatic reminder" that society does not value and honor her hard choices—leaving The New York Times! exposing herself to snubs at cocktail parties!—as highly as it should.

Interesting reading at a moment when more and more of my peers are married and/or having children, and when so much of my work is devoted to issues of "work-life balance," a feminist priority that Flanagan criticizes for ignoring the plight of poor women and children.

So I was already sad at missing jaundicedferret's Star Trek party, but this really takes the cake (pun intended):



They played a recording from the appropriate episode when they cut 'her.'

Here are the rest of the party pics.

Jon is my hero.